86 Jealousy

The sound interrupted all the loud conversations.

"Carlos, would you like to take a short walk with me?"

Eh? Carlos looked up at the pretty blond girl who had stood up from her seat. Her blue eyes were glittering.

Elizabeth! His emerald eyes widened.

Wasn't she mad at him? Why did she speak out? Why did she invite me to go on a walk?!

He wasn't the only one stunned. There was absolute silence for the next 3 seconds before someone came to his senses.

"You wrench! Why did you interrupt my conversation with Carlos?!" a boy shouted. Turning to Carlos, he advised, "Carlos, don't go with her! The bell is about to ring!"

There were echoes of agreement from the crowd.

The Rochester heir hesitated. "Will we make it on time?" He looked at Elizabeth.

The girl nodded slightly.

Ignoring the pleas of his other classmates, Carlos stood up and prepared to leave the classroom with her. "Ok, then. Let's go!"

Seeing this scene, the crowd was furious. One kid even grabbed Carlos' arm, trying to make him stay. "Why?!" he asked in a pitiful voice.

Carlos had shaken off the boy's hand with the corners of his lips curved up. "Elizabeth and I are friends."

It was the only question he answered. After saying that and stunning the boy who asked the question, Carlos walked away, beaming.

With this scene, rumors and speculations would start to fly in a frenzy.

But for now, there was a hush that swept over the crowd.

Was… Was Elizabeth the friend that Carlos had made plans with after school? But he said that he needed to return home… So they had already gone to the extent of going to each other's houses already?!

… But when did they get so close with each other? How come we didn't know about it?! This was what was going on in everyone's minds.

Then, the many pairs of eyes slowly started to direct themselves at Cassian, one after the other.

Elizabeth hung out with Cassian's gang prior to the incident during lunch that happened today.

So if there was anyone that knew if anything was going on between Carlos and Elizabeth, it would be the head of the gang, Cassian.

And everyone all knew that Cassian was courting Elizabeth. In fact, he had been courting her ever since sixth grade.

But… he doesn't seem mad? In fact, he looks relatively carefree!

The boy who had jet black hair was relaxed in his chair, talking about something with one of his followers with a smile on his face.

In fact, if it weren't for the occasional twitching of his eyes, Cassian indeed did seem quite carefree.

But everyone familiar with the dude knew that he was in a terrible mood, perhaps worse than when the class rebelled against him.

As such, although bystanders didn't understand why, the follower who was speaking to Cassian had legs that were shaking violently.

Whenever his boss, Cassian, smiled gently at him, the pitiful boy couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine and goosebumps

…

Carlos and Elizabeth weren't the only students in the hallways, but they were the only middle schoolers.

In Golden Rose Academy, there was a middle school and a high school program combined in one building.

To make it more organized and less crowded, middle school students stayed in one classroom for the entire day, with different teachers coming in each period to teach a new subject.

Meanwhile, high school students had to travel in between classes on their own, and high school teachers were the ones that each stayed in one fixed classroom that they taught in.

Right now, a bunch of high schoolers could be seen strutting down the halls, as if they owned the place.

But, Carlos was lost in his own world, and he didn't even notice that the noise in the school halls far surpassed the loudness of that in the classroom.

The thought of Elizabeth not being mad at him anymore had taken over his mind. He took this incident as the solidification of their friendship; and even if Elizabeth is mad at him again and ignores him again, the words that he said to the crowd would limit her.

They will always be friends!

They have to be!

Actually, maybe Elizabeth wasn't mad at him in the first place! Perhaps she just couldn't hear him when he called out to her! Yes! That must be it!

Carlos turned to the girl with curly blond hair, who was walking alongside him. She had her lips pursed, and her head turned away from him, looking at the student projects that were showcased on the walls.

He followed her gaze.

'English Essay on the book, Lord of Mysteries'

'Trigonometry proofs on the properties of right triangles.'

'The explanation for how to cross the speed boundary of light.'

What?

The boy didn't understand. What was so interesting about these projects? Was it more interesting than talking to him?

B-But… she asked him to take a walk with her! Was she planning on not speaking the entire way?! Was she taking a walk, not to help him, but to look at these projects?!

S-Should I just stay quiet?

No! He had something important to ask, and it couldn't be delayed any longer!

It seemed like he had to do the talking first, not that he minded. "Elizabeth, are we friends?"

He needed confirmation!

Without turning her head, Elizabeth replied in a gruff voice, "Why do you ask?"

"Because I want confirmation!"

"For what?"

"Elizabeth! For our friendship, of course!!" Carlos pouted. Why must she torture him like this?!

"What friendship?"

"E-E-E-Elizabeth… N-N-No way, right? W-We aren't f-f-f-f-f—"

"Pfft…" The girl barely managed to control her laugher. "I… I guess we are friends now?"

She looked at the boy's wronged expression in amusement.

In truth, she wasn't that mad at Carlos.

Back in the classroom, she had only wanted to mess with him. The girl had actually felt very refreshed meeting Carlos.

He was sincere, kind of stupid, but still, very sincere. He never thought about the consequences of his actions, never had any ulterior motives. He was an open book, and she could see through him without any effort. In short, he was naïve.

Just like the situation just before. Carlos had asked "are we friends?" but he already considered them to be friends. Elizabeth could tell the boy was just feeling smug and wanted some flattery.

So when she refused to give an answer, he felt very wronged and toyed with. Perhaps if she had held out for a few minutes longer, the boy would've left her in a fit of anger and not want to be friends with her anymore?

Although Elizabeth felt a little sad, she knew that she was in the wrong in the first place. Carlos was a simple person who was also very naïve; she shouldn't have toyed with him.

To be honest, Elizabeth hadn't expected that she would like Carlos so much. She thought herself as someone who hated ignorance and stupidity, but that doesn't seem like the case anymore.

When looking at Carlos' carefree expression, she felt something she hadn't felt for a long time.

Jealousy.